Google Agrees to Pay $140 Million in Back Taxes in Britain

Google will pay about $140 million in British back taxes in a concession driven by a shift in how the company will measure its success in the United Kingdom.

The terms disclosed Friday translate into 130 million pounds, a small sum for a business as prosperous as Google and its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc. The Mountain View, California, company has about $73 billion in cash.

Britain is one of Google's biggest markets outside the U.S., but the company has minimized its taxes in the country by keeping its European headquarters in Ireland, where tax rates are lower.